Nieuwe lidstaten vechten voor nieuw EU-Agentschap voor bewaking buitengrenzen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Several of the new member states are fighting over who will get the right to host the EU's external border agency.

Poland, with the longest border in an enlarged EU, along with Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Malta are all keen to get the agency which is set to start its activities in January 2005.

The agency will have a staff of about 30 and a budget of six million euro in 2005 and ten million euro in 2006 - and will be crucially important after enlargement.

Its aim will be to support EU states on a European level in the training of their national border guards and on the return of third-country nationals who illegally enter the EU.

All of the current EU 15 states have been allocated their own agency - the run up to the decisions of who should get which agency was always marked by frantic backroom dealing as they bring both money and jobs to a region.

A decision on the location of the border agency will be taken by EU leaders during one of their summits this year.